Firefighters included in city budget

Firefighter Sterling Veltkamp stands in full gear in front of engine No. 1 at Fire Station 1 in Great Falls. Veltkamp is following in his father’s footsteps and has been with the department for a year and a half.(Photo: TRIBUNE PHOTO/EVAN FROST)Buy Photo

"We spend a lot of money just putting them in that gear, and it doesn't last forever," Hester said.

The price tag for each firefighter looks like this:

Coat and pants: $2,000.

Boots: $400.

Helmets: $165.

Gloves: $85.

Self-contained breathing apparatus, SCBA: $6,500.

The budget also includes $32,500 for SCBA replacements, but the full cost is closer to $325,000. Greg Doyon, city manager, has tasked Hester with applying for grants to replace the SCBA for all 60 firefighters on the floor.

Hester said that equipment can't be replaced in phases, so it's all or nothing.

The SCBAs used at GFFR are 10 years old now and were purchased with grants, Hester said.

It's life safety equipment and well maintained, but the pieces start to fail and it costs more to maintain them, he said.

The glass on the face mask of the SCBA is the weakest point and there are improvements in the gear now available, Hester said.

"Everything is oriented at the task level for us," Hester said. "Everything that we do starts right there with the firefighter."

This year's budget also includes $425,000 for a replacement fire engine. Hester is currently drafting requirements to get bids.

GFFR received new trucks 10 to 11 years ago and the reserve trucks are 23 to 25 years old, Hester said.

After the task level items are taken care of, it comes down to responsibility to community to take care of the buildings.

"The bones are there, the rest is worn out," Hester said. "They've been open 24 hours for 40 years. It's time we start fixing things."

The budget includes funding for designs for bathroom renovations and a generator at Station 4, located at 1800 Fox Farm Road.

There's also an incident training program that all firefighters are completing on day-to-day operations.

Hester said the Web-based program is $346 per license and the program validates their existing policies and procedures, plus helps them improve their operations.

Hester established an internal committee to help create the budget and that is also helping firefighters understand the process and the available resources, he said.

The department is analyzing resources and needs to find the most efficient way of operating, Hester said.

"We have a lot of work to do before we talk about a fire station," he said.

With additional staffing, Hester's short-term goal is to create a squad that would handle calls such as lift assist, medical calls, and what Hester called "smells and bells," such as alarms going off with no apparent smoke or fire and things that smell like gas.

That would free up fire engines in the city's four fire districts to handle major emergencies.

"It's a dream right now," he said.

A lot can be done without an engine company, but that's a shift for firefighters because they're used to always traveling with their toolbox on wheels, otherwise known as the fire engine.

GFFR's overtime budget is typically $105,000 to $120,000 per year and "we work hard on trying to limit that, but safety won't be compromised," Hester said.

But on big fires, it can get costly from a personnel standpoint.

The department is still in the pilot phase of the 24-hour shift, but Hester said that so far, he's seeing overall satisfaction.

Department policy is that firefighters can't work more than 48 hours straight, as Hester said, "firefighter fatigue is a big deal."

ISO Ratings and Homeowners' Insurance

It's not a sure thing, but the increased staffing at the GFFR and dispatch center could increase the local ISO rating, which impacts homeowners' insurance.

The rating looks at staffing, the water distribution and alarm systems, Fire Chief Steve Hester said.

The lower the score, the higher insurance rate for local homeowners.

The current rating is 4. Hester said the city once had a 2. The rating system runs from a top rating of 1, to the worst rating, a 10.

Hester said once they get additional staff and he thinks the rating could increase, he'll call ISO to come back, otherwise they only evaluate every five years.